The Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1905. PEACE RUMOURS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8249, 23 February 1905, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1905. PEACE RUMOURS.

If Reuter's correspondent at St Petersburg is to be credited Russia and Japan may be nearer peace than the Japanese Press is disposed to believe. According to this authority the Czar has " formally discussed tlie terms of peace." '. Moreover, if the source from which the correspondent has derived his information is trustworthy his Majesty is ready to concede a large measure of what are believed to be the Japanese conditions. The demands of Japan, we were informed recently, are substantially as follow: The complete evacuation of the whole of Manchuria by the Russian troops, and tho restoration of that country to China; the recognition of a Japanese suzc ainty over Korea; the cession of Port Arthur and the Liaotung Peninsula to Japan; the transfer of the administration of the Chinese Eastern railway to a neutral commission; and the payment by Russia of an indemnity of £100,000,000. Russia, according to Reuter's correspondent, will acknowledge a Japanese suzerainty over Korea ; will consent to the ceding of Port Arthur and the Liaotana Peninsula, and, in addition, will declare Vladivostock a neutral port; and will agree to the transfer of the Eastern Chinese railway on the terms proposed by Japan. But she will only consent to evacuate southern Manchuria as far as Harbin, and she demurs to paying an indemnity. If the foregoing summary really represents the views of the contestants we may be in sight of peace. If the Czar is ready to purchase peace at the cost of allowing Japan a suzerainty' in the Korea, and the undisputed possession of the Liaotung Peninsula he will hardly stick a J - an indemnity. From the purely financial point of view it would pay Russia better to hand over £100,000,000 in return for a guarantee of immediate peace than to prolong the war for, say, another year. But we can easily understand that Russia may refuse at all costs to surrender the whole of Manchuria. This step would inflict such a crushing blow on her waning prestige in Asia that as an alternative she might well prefer to prolong the war indefinitely. In any event she will probably risk another battle. Somewhere on the Shaho she will invite the great battle of the war. If she is beaten she will probably sue for a cessation of hostilities on the lines mentioned by Renter. If she wins she will abandon all thought of peace. Instead, her armies will begin their march southward, and. they will not halt until they have recovered the ground from which they have been driven during the past twelve months. But h, victory which 'woum dear the way for a Russian advance would have to be a decisive one, and a decisive Russian victory, though possible, is certainly not probable. It is much more likely that the battle will be won by the Japanese, and that after it is over we shall hear the first formal proposal for peace. ''